Weather News

Clear skies brings sun but also cool mornings to Australia

Max Gonzalez,
Monday April 21, 2014 - 12:29 EST

If you live across the interior, you would have noticed that this Easter long weekend couldn't have been any better on the weather front. A broad ridge of high pressure has kept skies clear skies across most of the country, except for the far south and north, leading to mostly sunny days.

The abundance of sunshine has led to balmy temperatures during the day, in what seems to be summer's long kiss goodbye. But clearer skies overnight have also led to very chilly nights across Australia's interior. This, combined with a colder airmass lingering in the wake of a weak front that swept through the south earlier on the Easter long weekend has brought a taste of winter to many locations.

In Bourke, the mercury dropped to 5 degrees this morning, their coldest since August last year. Similarly, Coonabarabran saw the mercury dip below freezing for the first time since October reaching -1.0 degrees.

In West Wyalong, the 2 degrees observed this morning was their coldest April morning since 2006 while Murrundi in the Hunter dropped to 1 degree, their coldest April morning since 2008. Further north, resident in Lismore shivered as the mercury dipped below 10 degrees, their coldest morning since last November.

The morning chill was also felt across many centres, not only NSW. In Canberra, the mercury reached 1 degree for the second morning in a row, something that has not happened in our capital since early November. Hobart dropped to 3 degrees, coldest morning since October and Perth's 7 degrees was its coldest April morning since 2011.

Night-time temperatures are now set to warm up over the coming days to more seasonable values as the warm days erode the cold airmass. Long-range models however, are picking a stronger front next week which has potential to bring colder nights once again. This is not really a surprise since Autumn is holding its course and aim ... Winter.